I"m using IE 8 on Win7, 64 bit. Without fail if I press Enter to submit a comment I am put into compat mode if am not already in it. Taking myself out of compat mode by clicking the broken page icon eliminates my screwy tags, keyboard focus problems, etc. I am close to being trained not to press Enter by this bug.

Update: Jan 4th/12 (or possibly a little earlier, I don't comment every day) something changed so that now submitting comments by clicking the button puts me in compat mode. This is so not an improvement. Any chance you can tell what's going on by looking at comment-related code that went live this year?

New Info - commenting on a question (with enter or the button) never puts me in compat mode. Commenting on an answer (again, with enter or the button) always does.

It's irrelevant that you can reproduce this at will. All that matters is that the devs can reproduce it, because then it can get fixed. How do you reproduce this bug?
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Kevin VermeerDec 2 '11 at 20:58

I enter a comment on any SE site and press enter to submit it
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Kate GregoryDec 2 '11 at 20:59

3

there, i just did it with that comment. 100% of the time I press Enter to submit comments I get into compat mode. meta, so, travel, cooking, english - anywhere I have an account, I have done it on those sites. Beta and graduated. FWIW I often have a LOT of tabs open (32 at the moment).
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Kate GregoryDec 2 '11 at 21:01

and that comment, submitted by clicking, no compat mode.
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Kate GregoryDec 2 '11 at 21:01

2

Re your update: There were no comment JS changes, but jQuery has been upgraded, so it's likely related to that. I'm firing up a VM now.
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balpha♦Jan 5 '12 at 14:18

and that one got me compat and reload too.
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Kate GregoryJan 5 '12 at 14:32

2

@balpha Have you tried IE8 32-bit with all updates on Windows 7 64-bit (which is what Kate Gregory has, and which is what I have, too)? I can totally reproduce that. I've never used Enter to submit a comment, but since Jan 4(ish) the submit button summons the compatibility mode.
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GSergJan 6 '12 at 21:00

1

@balpha Just moved to a different country. A whole new PC, with Windows 7 SP1 32-bit and IE8 with all updates. Still compatibility mode on comment.
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GSergJan 10 '12 at 16:46

1

@balpha It would appear that IE8 goes into compat mode when you submit a comment and there's aleady an upvoted comment on that same question/answer. If all comments already present on the question/answer are not upvoted, compat mode is not triggered. Presence of upvoted comments on adjancent answers is not relevant.
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GSergFeb 2 '12 at 0:02

1

@GSerg is correct. I've been having the same problem, and indeed there's a difference between whether there are upvoted comments or not.
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AlexMar 6 '12 at 1:51

This is being caused by a "IE8 Specific" page layout error and the effects created can be stopped by doing the following.

To Stop compatibility view from recovering from page layout errors the Solution is simple.(although it took me awhile to figure out were the option was)

Open "Tools" menu then go to "Internet Options". Under the "Advanced setting" tab scroll down to The "Browsing" Section and Uncheck the option "Automatically Recover From page layout errors with Combatibility View"

This will not fix the layout incompatibilty with IE proprietary browsing visualization but there will be no unwanted loss of your individual Menu Items.

This seems to do the trick. The page does not look any different after submitting a comment, I am not put into compat mode, and all the annoying aspects of being in compat mode disappear. I do get the page reloaded and focus at the top, but I can live with that. Thanks Argus!
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Kate GregoryJul 2 '12 at 11:49

btw the page reloads and focus is at the top when I comment with Enter, but not when I click Add Comment
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Kate GregoryJul 2 '12 at 11:49

@kate I use the keyboard as well, tab key then space will enter the comment.
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Jeff Atwood♦Jul 2 '12 at 17:03

@KateGregory: no problem. I believe this is happening as a result of a .net framework issue that is a slightly different command path in ie that does not track the position of the scrollbar correctly as this only solves the effects and not the prob itself I will continue to debug.
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ArgusJul 2 '12 at 18:55

This bug, which just refuses to die, now has another symptom: no top bar showing my name, rep, badges etc on beta sites in compat mode. I got into compat mode by pressing Enter to comment. There was a comment on the answer already, and it was not upvoted.

On graduated sites the top bar doesn't go away, and I don't remember it ever going away with the sketchy theme on beta sites. I don't know what the fix for this is - whether to stop putting people in compat mode for no reason, or to behave better in compat mode - but I long for it.

@minitech: Good for you; I am, so I don't have the option. I recently switch to Firefox because, unlike most other programs, you can apparently install (and update) Firefox without requiring administrator rights to your machine. Can't install Chrome, though. Firefox does not suffer from the problem described here.
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Robert HarveyApr 22 '12 at 23:49

@RobertHarvey: Yes, that works on my school computers as well. I suppose you're not allowed portable versions? Ouch. (Anyway, I was addressing Kate Gregory, who might not be. (Who knows? Personal choice can be an odd thing sometimes! (Also, nested parentheses are great.)))
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minitechApr 22 '12 at 23:54

3

@minitech I'm in a 6 month transition between machines. The new machine is IE10. In the meantime this one is staying as-is.
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Kate GregoryApr 22 '12 at 23:55